Laughter
by The Girly Man
Summary: Oh, how the wind whistled eerily through the trees. Or, perhaps... it was not the wind at all.


**This is my first attempt at writing a scary fanfiction, and it's pretty elongated, so I'd love to hear your honest opinion. But maybe watered down if it's really harsh, please… : ) I tried really hard on this, so I hope it turned out okay. I think it did. : ) Maybe it's me! I was going to wait to post this on June 6th, because of that 6-6-06 thing, but I decided to just post it now… This is a one-shot. Thanks to Justina, for reading it first and telling me I should add more details : P I don't own Fruits Basket, and I don't know if this is like any horror film because I've never seen one, so I made up the idea myself!**

**Laughter**

Oh, how the wind whistled eerily through the trees.

And still, in the middle of a dark forest, the occupants of the enormous house could sleep soundly.

Except for one.

Sohma Kyo lay awake on his mattress. He did not toss and turn to find a comfortable position as most would, but lay completely still. Every inch of his body aside from his neck and head were covered completely by his blanket, and he had made it that way. This was, he felt much safer, but still clenched his fists in confused fear under the sheets.

He was listening to the trees. Why, he did not know, but something told him that he did not want to fall asleep at that moment. There was a sick feeling in his gut, but he did not want to move. He lay there afraid, wishing dearly for someone, anyone, to come and embrace him; to lighten the room and erase this fear of which he did not know the source.

With a hard swallow, he dared himself to turn onto his side and force himself to fall asleep.

He was almost onto his side when he felt the urge to turn over again. Almost as if he were being controlled, possessed, hypnotized, he turned over again as a low hanging tree branch beat against his window.

_Kyo…_

He could hear a voice whispering in his ear, and then a gargling, ear-shattering scream.

The tree branch became louder and Kyo's eyes, widened with fright, wandered to the so familiar opening to the outside world.

The window had not been open a few minute prior.

And it had never occurred to Kyo that it was not a tree branch tapping upon his window.

There was a face.

There was a face in his bedroom window.

This was not the first time this had happened.

As a child, Kyo could see things others could not. When that occurred, he would laugh and convince himself there was nothing there. He was the cat, and the cat was the most connected to the paranormal.

He was not laughing now.

"Stand up."

It was a child in the window.

_No more than a child_, Kyo told himself. As if he had no other choice, he pushed his blanket away, discarding his only protection against the windy night. His feet found the floor and he stood there, straight up, staring at the girl in the window.

"Come play with me, Kyo," she beckoned, waving her hand. "Come play. Come on, don't be scared."

Unable to refuse or resist, Kyo found himself walking slowly toward the window. He opened the windowpane more so that it was wide enough for him to crawl through, and did just that.

"This way, Kyo," the little girl took his hand. "Don't be afraid!"

Her hand was smooth and cool, and Kyo could easily fit it into his palm. She was wearing an old, tattered dress with dirt spots, or what he thought were dirt spots, from past adventures that were long forgotten. Her face was pale and kind, and shining blonde curls bordered her cheeks and fell in waves down her back. Her small, tinkling laugh was the only thing that could bring him out of his trance.

"You're staring," she laughed. "Is something wrong?"

"Where are you taking me?" he managed to ask, despite his thirst for surprise.

"To my house," the girl replied. "We can play there."

They walked at a fast pace, her little hand still enveloped in his. The forest grew thicker and Kyo didn't know where they were going, but found that he did not care. The only thing he cared about now was keeping that lonely little girl company.

The two came upon a house that Kyo had never seen before and the girl laughed again. "What did I tell you about being afraid?"

Kyo forced his own false laugh and stared up at the house. A better word to describe it would be mansion… or maybe even _castle_. The sight of the hundreds of window without a single light on made his stomach drop.

The girl opened the front door with a large brass key and pushed hard against the heavy wood until it slowly provided enough room to slip through, and a long creak ensued.

"Come on, Kyo," she laughed, and disappeared into the house.

"Wait!" Kyo called, reaching a hand out with no effect. He sighed and lowered his arm. He did not want to go into the house… and he certainly did not want to go alone.

He took a step backwards, but was pushed forward by the wind. He was forced into the house and once he was inside, the wooden door slammed shut and locked.

Kyo's breath came quickly as he pressed himself against the door as hard as he could. His heart was a drum, keeping time three times as fast as the grandfather clock down the hall. All of his senses seemed to fail him. The hallway was so dark that he could not see anything, his body felt numb as if he were in a dream, and the only sound he could hear was that familiar wind blowing through the trees.

"L-Little girl?" he called into the darkness, his voice echoing dramatically against the cold stone walls. "Where are you?"

She laughed her laugh that made Kyo shiver and a torch went on down the hall, revealing the shadowed silhouette of the girl. "We're playing hide and seek. You're the seeker, Kyo."

She ran off giggling and her figure disappeared.

Kyo had always hated that game, but nonetheless, he felt he needed to play along.

He gathered all of the courage and confidence he could, and charged down the hall.

The stone walls and thousands of doors seemed endless as Kyo fought through years of dust and cobwebs. After what seemed like days, he reached the illuminated torch as the grandfather clock rang twelve times.

Kyo leaned against the wall to catch his breath, and his eyes landed on the trail of blood on the ground. It wasn't footprints of blood or anything; it looked like it had been painted on.

A tinkling laugh caught his attention and the girl slipped into a room down the hall, leaving a fresh trail of blood behind. After inhaling deeply and taking the torch from the wall, Kyo ran after her.

There were so many doors that Kyo was beginning to get dizzy.

Hearing the noise of moving furniture or something of the sort behind a door marked with a strange symbol, he chose that door and opened the dusty doorknob.

This door revealed a large room made of entirely green furnishings. There were inches of dust layered on the dressers and beds, and the green curtains were blowing violently in front of the open picture window.

"Kyo…" Kyo heard his name being called. "Can you find me, Kyo?"

Kyo looked around and found he was focusing on the closet on the other side of the room. Cautiously, he crept over, and after counting to three multiple times, he flung the door open and it flew off of its old hinges. The items in the closet tumbled out. The closet was filled with weapons.

Kyo jumped out of the way in time and only his arm was cut by a falling knife. Once he was sure everything that could hurt him had fallen out, he peered inside once again, holding the torch up for extra light.

At first he though it was no more than a pile of clothes, but once he looked closer, he knew what it was.

A corpse.

Kyo turned around and ran to the other side of the room. The door slammed shut when he was only a foot away from it. After struggling for a few minutes against the force, it burst open again and he was in the hallway once more.

That whistling laughter…

Kyo turned his head in time to see the back of the little girl's dress going down a flight of stairs.

Panting hard, Kyo ran after her.

_There's something wrong with this house… and I don't like it._

The blood lined the stairs and Kyo had to balance himself against the cold stone wall with one hand to avoid slipping and falling down. He did not know how long the stair case was, and went down the steps slowly. All around him he could hear door slamming shut and that constant wind…

The stair case ended and Kyo tripped and fell sideways onto his hands. At least there was something soft to break his fall.

Yes. Miles and miles of bloody corpses, all of them stretched out in mutilated positions he could not bear to look at.

"Gross…" he whispered, standing up and holding the torch away from his face so he wouldn't burn, but still trying to shield his eyes. He was no longer in the house, but in a field of dead crab grass and tombstones, which the corpses surrounded as if somebody had forgotten to bury them. Thunder roared and the sky turned pale green, a drop of rain falling on Kyo's forehead.

"Thank you for coming, Kyo. You found me!"

Kyo looked up. The little girl was standing among the corpses, blood soaking her hair, dress, and dripping off of her hands, but most sickening of all was the fact that she was laughing.

"Now what?" Kyo whispered, not strong enough to speak.

"Now…" the little girl had somehow heard him. "I'd like you to meet my friends."

"Friends?" Kyo muttered, becoming dizzy from the increasingly strong rain.

"Yes. I played hide and seek with all of my _best_ friends," she gestured to all of the bodies, now soaked in a mix of their blood and rain.

"And you, Sohma Kyo, are my _new_ best friend."

Oh, how the wind whistled eerily through the trees.

Or perhaps…

it was not the wind at all.


End file.
